We are DONE!

Martin finished 4th grade on Thursday. There was a pretty big leap in the amount of work required this year. The books we read were incredibly rich, exciting, and interesting. I enjoyed reading them as much as Martin did.
Preparing Hearts for His Glory has been my favorite Heart of Dakota program so far! We struggled a bit through Bigger, last year ... mainly because it is such a HUGE skill building year that was very teacher intensive. I don't regret a minute of that vital training year, because I am convinced that going through the Bigger Hearts guide with the great care that we did - is what made Martin ready for Preparing ... and made the Preparing year so rich and rewarding!  I love that we did a basic overview of World History for an entire year before we dig in to the deeper details that are coming over the next 3 years. This coming year we will be studying just a portion of the overview we did this year, so we will be able to look more closely at the details of each time period that we cover. Preparing Hearts covers a complete overview of World History from Creation to current times.
The next 3 guides; Creation to Christ, Resurrection to Reformation, and Revival to Revolution will give a more detailed coverage of each individual time period leading up to the American Revolution.
I have always loved history, and the Heart of Dakota approach to history has made me love it even more.
Preparing Hearts is a transitional year in many ways because it gently trains the child to become more independent. Martin was quite opposed to the independence of it at first, but by the end of the year he was able to complete most of his day without my help. (other than the English and Math lessons that I  needed to teach him ... as well as the history readings ... because I couldn't bare to have him do those without me!)
Martin has grown the most this year in his ability to write. We spend a great deal of time doing oral narrations. The oral narrating that begins all the way back in Kindergarten begins to transition to written narration. The very first written narration that Martin did this year was downright painful. By the end of the year, the required 3-5 sentence narration became an 8 sentence narration without any difficulty at all.
We have already received our books for the new school year and while everyone is excited about having a month off, they are also excited about starting a fresh  new year with lots and lots of new and exciting books to read.
If you homeschool, and haven't found a good curriculum "fit" for your family, I encourage you to check out Heart of Dakota. We have found the Charlotte Mason approach to education to be rich and rewarding and has developed such a desire and love for learning in my children.
If you are not a homeschooler, but are looking for excellent books for your children to read, I encourage you to check out HOD's book packages. (I linked you to the level 2/3 package, but you can find links to the upper level packages on that same page)